Taiwan’s housing price index grew 1.82 percent to 133.18 in the third quarter of last year, when mortgage burdens picked up 0.16 percent from the second quarter to 42.25 percent of average household income, indicating that housing unaffordability sharpened, Ministry of the Interior data showed yesterday.
The reading represented a 5.42 percent hike compared with a year earlier, although the pace eased slightly for five consecutive quarters, the ministry found.
Overall, the house price-to-income ratio climbed to 9.82 times the average of household income nationwide, also a new high.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
The trend ran counter to joint efforts by policymakers to facilitate a soft landing for house prices, as housing unaffordability has long topped the public’s complaint, especially among young people.
Solid real demand and building material price hikes lent support to home prices, Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) research manager Tseng Ching-der (曾敬德) said.
The government’s introduction in August last year of interest rate subsidies for first-home purchases put an end to a year-long slowdown caused by unfavorable measures and monetary tightening, Tseng said.
Meanwhile, housing transactions totaled 79,812 units nationwide from July to September, rising 6.91 percent from three months earlier and 9.14 percent from a year earlier, affirming a recovery, the ministry’s Web site showed.
The mortgage burden was highest at 67.13 percent in Taipei, where house prices spiked to 15.67 times household income, it showed.
The mortgage burden in New Taipei City stood at 55.35 percent, after house prices increased to 12.92 times household income, the ministry said.
The government deems mortgage burdens of 30 percent as reasonable, 30 to 40 percent as relatively high, and more than 50 percent as overly high.
Affordability in Taichung joined the “ultra-low” category as house prices constituted 11.74 times household income and the mortgage burden grew to 50.32 percent, it said.
Developers have in recent years introduced new luxury apartment complexes in Taichung to take advantage of its metro system and other improving infrastructure facilities.
Affordability in Tainan and Kaohsiung was relatively low, with mortgage burdens standing at 40.67 percent and 39.74 percent respectively after house prices climbed to 9.49 times and 9.27 times household income, the ministry said.
Mortgage burdens were also high in Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Changhua, Nantou, Yunlin, Taitung, Hualien and Yilan, in addition to the outlying counties of Penghu and Kinmen, it said.
By contrast, affordability was reasonable in Keelung, as well as in Pingtung and Chiayi counties, it said.
Supply and demand would dominate the housing market’s direction after political uncertainty linked to the presidential election settled, Sinyi said.
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